Flag stars sidelined at Joeys

St Joseph’s brothers James and Al Hickey will both be missing from this afternoon’s Round 1 meeting with St Albans. (krockfootball.com.au Image/Al Packer)

MORE than one-third of the line-up St Joseph’s takes into this afternoon’s Round 1 meeting with St Albans at The Gordon Oval weren’t part of last year’s grand final win.

Heath Jamieson, who will become just the second person in club history to coach 100 games today, has confirmed eight different faces will meet the Supersaints.

Daniel Lovick (Geelong Amateur) is the only departure from Drew Oval, with Brenton Rees, Ben Moloney and reigning GFL Rookie of the Year Jackson McLachlan on VFL duty and Riley Ferguson unavailable, while the Hickey brothers, Alex (hamstring) and James (broken hand), and Lech Featherstone (leg) have injury issues.

Recruits Lucas Anderson (Wendouree) and Martin Dufty (Albion) get an early chance to impress and Josh Hovey has returned from Torquay, while Tom Kingston, Tom Denning, Paul Dreher, James Allen and Spiros Alesios have also been named.

“We’ve had a few players who have had a really good pre-season get rewarded with a Round 1 game in the reigning premier’s side,” Jamieson said.

“We had some guys miss the grand final success last year; Dreher and Allen and these guys just keep coming back and keep getting better, and they get rewarded.”

Jamieson and his coaching staff have spent some time this week looking at St Albans, who look set to be boosted by the inclusion of former Brisbane rookie Blake Grewar.

“Their start wasn’t super, but I thought after quarter time they played some good footy,” he said.

“We know they’ve got some dangerous players, the guy from the Brisbane Lions looks like he could be anything, so he’s going to be one we’re going to have to watch.

“And we know out there they can be a hard side to play against. We look forward to the challenge they’ll bring.”